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Jamison Door breaks ground on Pa. facility

ZULLINGER, Pa. — When Jamison Door Co. officials embarked on an effort to find space to expand, they settled on a Washington Township, Pa., site where they hope to move beyond the cold-storage market they command.

Additional product lines are on the horizon for the 112-year-old company long a manufacturing leader in Washington County.

“This really is a great day and a culmination of so much that has gone on. In 2000, this was a company that was struggling to survive,” Jamison CEO John Williams said.

Jamison Door Co. makes air doors, insulated doors, and high-speed, roll-up doors, specializing in doors for cold-storage businesses. Williams described the company’s existing space for roll-up doors as overflowing; that property is off Sharpsburg Pike south of Hagerstown.

About $3.7 million will be invested in the new production facility in the Wharf Road Industrial Park in Washington Township.

The Franklin County (Pa.) Area Development Corp. is serving as a developer for the 50,000-square-foot building, then will hand the keys, and mortgage, Williams joked, to Jamison Door Co. next spring.

Thirty-five people will work at the new plant. The company hopes to find new applications for its roll-up doors, such as installing them in commercial mechanics’ garage bays.

FCADC President L. Michael Ross thanked partners, including the Waynesboro (Pa.) Industrial Development Corp. and various politicians.

“Everything that happens happens through collaboration and partnership,” he said.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Paul Schemel told Jamison Door Co. officials that he believes they will find Pennsylvania to be a favorable state in which to do business, in part because of its tax structure.

“We’re a state that knows how to build things — certainly Franklin County does,” said Schemel, R-Franklin.

Williams said he is excited to see the production facility develop.

“The process of finding a location was not an easy one or, at times, a particularly pleasant one,” he said.

Jamison Door Co. has additional locations in Hagerstown and near Williamsport.